Colombian soldiers killed helping eradicate coca

PANAMA CITY, Panama – Guerrilla forces on Tuesday killed 24 Colombian soldiers who were protecting coca eradication workers in a lawless jungle province, the deadliest such attack this year, the Colombian army said.

The mass slaying comes 10 days after rebels killed eight police officers and briefly abducted 29 others in another state. Together, the incidents show the severe shortcomings of Colombia’s security forces despite billions in U.S. aid and President Alvaro Uribe’s efforts to beef up the police and army and end 40 years of violence.

Analysts expect such attacks to continue in the run-up to Colombia’s presidential primary in March and full election in May. Uribe is favored to win a second term.

Since taking office in 2002, Uribe has pushed through policies that have demobilized two-thirds of the nation’s 20,000 right-wing paramilitary fighters. Analysts believe the demobilization is a prelude to a military campaign to defeat leftist guerrilla armies, who have refused to engage in peace negotiations.

“There will be many such operations in the first trimester of the year of 2006 by guerrillas who will try to demonstrate the government has not had total success and that they are still strong in many zones of the country,” said Alfredo Rangel, a security analyst who is running as an independent for the Colombian senate.

Tuesday’s killings occurred near the town of Vista Hermosa in Meta province, a prime coca cultivation area about 100 miles south of the capital, Bogota. The soldiers were there to protect another team of soldiers who were pulling up the plants, whose leaves are used to make cocaine.

Although much of Colombia’s coca eradication efforts are performed by aerial spraying, an increasing portion of crop destruction is being done by hand to avoid herbicide damage to adjoining crops and the environment, officials say. Under the so-called Plan Colombia, the United States has given Colombia more than $3.4 billion in aid since 2000 to fight drugs and the guerrilla and paramilitary forces that grow, process and export them.